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Characteristics
of Letters
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Its linguistic
definition: Strength |
Its linguistic
definition: |
Its linguistic
definition: |
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Its applied
definition: |
Its
applied definition: Moderation:
The letter is in between the
two characteristics; between strength and softness so that the sound is
partially imprisoned and partially running when pronouncing the letter. |
Its applied
definition: |
|
Its
letters: |
Its letters: |
Its
letters: the rest of the Arabic alphabet |
,
, and
There
are 28 letters that take vowels, alif is not included in the number, since the
alif never takes a vowel and is always saakinah.
The vowels are equal in timing between all letters, no matter whether
the letter has the characteristic of
(strength),
(in between), or
(softness). No
letter is longer than another when they are voweled; all vowels are equal.
An example can be drawn in the word
each
letter has a vowel, in this word it so happens that all the letters have a
fat-h. The first letter in this
word is a
, which has the
characteristic of
, or softness, the second
letter is a
, which has the
characteristic of
(in between softness and strength), and the third letter is a
, which has the
characteristic of
(strength); yet when this word is recited properly, the timing
of the
،
،
are
all equal. No voweled letter is
longer in timing than the other.
When
there is a sukoon on the Arabic letters, the case is different.
There is a difference in timing of the saakinah letters depending on
whether they have the characteristic of
or
, or
.
The shortest timing for saakinah letters is for the letters of
(which are: "
").
The saakinah
letters have a longer timing than those of
, and the saakinah letters
of
group have a longer timing
than that of
group of letters (the
group).
All
saakinah letters have
equal timing to each other. This
means that
saakinah should have the same timing as
saakinah and
saakinah, as well as all other
letters of this group of
. In the same line of
thought, all letters of
that have a sukoon are equal in timing to each other.
The
saakinah should have the same timing as
saakinah, etc.
This
law of equality among similes was documented by Al-Imam Al-Jazaree, in his
poem:
, when
he said:
(and
the parallel of an utterance is equal to it).
If we look at the first aayah of the Faatihah, we can analyze this further.
The
first letter of the first word:
has
a vowel, so it takes the time that all vowels have of one vowel count.
The second letter is a
with a sukoon, and we know that the
has
the characteristic of
, and we also know that
group
of letters has the longest timing of all the other letters, when saakin.
We keep in mind though, that all
letters that are saakinah are equal in length to each other.
The third letter, a
has
a vowel, so it has the timing that all voweled letters have.
The third letter that is pronounced is the saakin letter of the
shaddah, a
, in the word:
and of
group,
so it gets a timing a little shorter than that of the
saakinah that was in the previous word. The next letter is the second
of
the shaddah, a laam with a fat-h , and this gets the timing all voweled
letters get. After this is an
alif, which is always in a lengthened state, and it receives the measure of
two vowel counts. After that,
there is a
with
a kasrah, so it receives the timing of one vowel count, equal to all other
vowels. The next pronounced
letter is the first part of the shaddah on the
, a
with a sukoon. The
is
of
group
of letters, so it receives an in between amount of timing, exactly the same
timing of the laam saakinah in the word
.
The following letter is the second part of the shaddah, a
with a fath, so it receives one vowel count of timing.
After this there is a
with a sukoon on it. This
letter is of
group of letters, and as
previously discussed they have the longest timing of all saakinah letters.
The
that follows this has a fat-h, and therefore receives one
vowel count. It is followed by an
alif, which receives the equal of two vowel counts.
The
with a kasrah that comes after the alif receives one vowel
count. The next pronounced letter is the first part of the
that has a shaddah on it, a
saakinah. It is
of
group
of letters, so it receives an in between amount of timing, and equal to all
other letters of this same group. The
following letter is the second part of the shaddah, a
with a fath, so it receives one vowel count of timing.
After this, there is a
with a kasrah on it, and it therefore receives one vowel
count. A medd letter
comes next, and as
previously studied in the mudood section, it receives two vowel counts if not
followed be a hamzah or sukoon. In
this case, we will be stopping on the word
, so will be putting a
presented sukoon on the
.
There is then a
,
and the
therefore will be lengthened 2, 4, or 6 counts. The last
letter, a
will be stopped on with a sukoon, and therefore will have an
in between amount of timing on it, that the same of all saakinah letters of
group
of letters.
In
conclusion, all voweled letters are equal in time to one another; all getting
one vowel count. Saakinah letters
have different lengths of timing depending on which group they belong to.
The letters of
group have the longest
timing, yet they are equal in timing to each other.
group
of letters have a shorter amount of timing when saakinah, but again, equal to
each other. The
letters have the shortest timing of all the saakinah letters,
and are equal to each other.
Click
here to listen to the basmalah, and analyze the timing of the saakinah
letters.
) are in this group.
,
.
, which as explained in the
last tidbit, is the running of air.